Mixtape: Thanksgiving 11.28

Play:

1--- Apparently, there are places you can grub for Thanksgiving in Seoul, but I didn't know about them, so instead, I'm sitting in my room listening to Drake and Lecrae (his new album is free!).


2 --- I'm thankful to have an awesome family and amazing friends all over the world. Told them not to send me anything. Got two huge surprise packages anyway.

3 --- Been reading these every morning and night. Good stuff:
http://52daysofthanksandpraise.com/



4 --- "33 Signs You're a New Teacher:"
#2, #8, #9, #12, #14, #16, #22, #23, #27, #28, #29, #30, #33
http://www.buzzfeed.com/antwaunsargent/signs-you-are-a-new-teacher



5 --- One of my kindergarten classes has twin boys in it. When this happened, in my mind I shouted, "Let the boys play, ref!" because recently my inner monologue has been quoting Remember the Titans in excess... Thankful I sometimes get to laugh at work.

6 --- In the words of Nicki Nick, "No. I'm not lucky I'm blessed." Thanksgiving is a lifestyle. Trying to be about it. 

Easy Stovetop Chili

Being that I got home at 7:30 am this morning, I planned to take it easy for the day and decided to make a real meal for myself since of late I haven't bothered with much besides soup and boiled potatoes. 

Chili was on my mind. As they say, you can take the girl out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl. (Do they say that? I don't know.)

Here's the recipe I was working from. I amended it to work for my limited kitchen and selection of ingredients. 




Easy Stovetop Chili:

You'll need:
- approximately 300g ground beef (I think I bought ground beef...)
- 2 chopped onions
- 4 cloves minced garlic (I used about 10 because I had a ton...)
- salt to taste
- 1 can whole tomatoes
- 1 can kidney beans
- 1 jar tomato sauce





1. Cook garlic, onions, and beef until meat has browned. Drain.

2. Stir in canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.

never put the chili paste in. was good without.

3. Cover and simmer for 40 mins.

4. Add beans and cook uncovered for about 15 mins.

wish that was cornbread instead of rice bread, but you use what you've got

I didn't realize chili was so easy to make. This will likely be happening again in the future.

Night Out in Hongdae

This year on my birthday, I was sick but sucked it up and kept my plans to visit another town in Korea with a few friends. However, on the way to the meeting spot, my phone broke, so I couldn't find them. I tried to redeem the day by getting lunch with a couple other friends, but at the restaurant, the executive chef (an American) came out and condescendingly yelled at us for what seemed an eternity just because we asked to have our meat cooked a little longer. That wasn't cool, so after finding another place to eat, I just went home and went to sleep.

This weekend, kind of as a birthday redo, my friend suggested that we try going to Hongdae, an area of Seoul known for its art scene and nightlife. I'm not a big partier; I'd take a milkshake over a beer any day, especially if I have to pay seven bucks for it. But, I love to dance, so I greenlighted her plan.

***

I got on the subway around 11:30pm and noticed a full row of empty seats in the car. Cool, I thought. I'll get to sit. After taking two steps towards the free spots, I realized why no one was sitting there. A completely trashed girl had flipped her stomach inside out in the aisle. I'd never seen an unaccompanied girl that drunk before in public.

The crazy thing though is that after she got off the train, three girls who I assume were strangers to each other and to the drunk girl, cleaned up her vomit! I was really impressed by that. There was something really redemptive about it.

***

Once off the train, I waited for my friend outside exit 9 of the #2 train's Hongik University stop, and a crowd began to line the road in front of me. I sat back and thought, Oh, maybe it's a celebrity sighting, like a K-Pop star are someone, so after a minute or so, I stood up to see if I knew the celebrity, but was it a celebrity? Noooo. It was two wasted guys fighting in the middle of the busy street. Fighting like reality show cat fight/wrestling match fighting. I've never seen anything like that before either.

Apparently, in Korea there's a word to explain why so many drunk people were out that night: "bulgeum," which I will translate for you as "#yolo it's friiiiiday. heeeey!"

Anyway, after witnessing these two events, I began to wonder what the night would bring for my friend and me...

going to see what the crowd was for...

But it was cool. When she arrived, we walked towards the main strip. There were a bunch of restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs, and people on the streets "busking."My friend and I split some hoteokk and then some fried squid and mandu at this place called Mimine before finding somewhere to hang out. 

4,000 for calamari. pretty good. mandu was meh. they're supposed to be
famous for shrimp though.

My friend suggested we head to this bar called Thursday Party. It was a great suggestion. The crowd was composed mainly of foreigners, but there were some very stylish Koreans there as well. The music was great -- until about 3:00am; after "Call Me Maybe" played, it was all downhill from here. Also, the drinks weren't expensive, about 3,000-5,000 for beer and 5,000-7,000 for mixed drinks. Fun, casual atmosphere. I'd go back.

friend outside Thursday Party

I forgot to mention that public transportation in Korea is not 24hrs, so if you go out at night, you have to plan ahead and find somewhere to crash or do what my friend and I did and wait until 5:30am to roll around when the trains start running again.

After we left Thursday party, we went to find a 24 hour cafe to wait in for a while.  On the way there, we passed another huge crowd on the street and a taxi parked with it's headlight serving as the spotlight for whatever was going on. I thought it was a really talented street performer or something, so my friend and I went to check it out. Surprise, surprise. It was another wasted girl, and everyone was just gawking at her. Really sad. A couple of fellow English-speakers voiced their shared frustration over the situation. At times like those, it would be nice to know a little Korean. People need help...

***

The cafe we found was crowded, like you'd think it was 4:00pm rather than 4:00 in the morning. All around, people were shamelessly sleeping mouth-agape, legs propped up on chairs. About twenty minutes after we got there, the staff kicked everyone out to clean the upper floor, so we had to find another cafe. (If you're waiting in a cafe, find a spot on the first level so you don't get kicked out!)

At about 5:15 am, we walked back to the subway station to catch the first train of the day. There were people already waiting in the cars. Again, they were knocked out. 

Around 6:00am, the old ladies in their hiking gear headed to their Saturday morning treks started to board, while we twenty and thirty-somethings were still en route home from the day before. It was fun though, like there was a sense of camaraderie amongst all of us, like, "Yeah, that was a great night."

No way I could do that every weekend though, haha.

Started from the Bottom...

Suggested Listening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OQQsurQFQk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsLykJ17Oxc

On Friday night, I left with Seoul Hiking Group for Naejangsan National Park. That night, we slept at a nearby jjimgilbang so that in the morning, we could head straight to the park.

Now, I joined this trip by myself. In life, I'd much rather do things with company, but if no one wants to tag along, depending on the situation, I'll go it alone. In this instance, I figured I could meet people on the trip, and oh, did I...

A jjimjilbang is a Korean public bath house.  They're really, really popular here, and for only about eight US dollars, it's easy to see why. Jjimjilbang have a bunch of different sauna rooms and different soaking tubs you can use; some also have swimming pools, karaoke rooms, gyms, and massage areas. There are also areas where you can pay extra to have old women scrub a layer of your skin off. Most jjimjilbang are open 24 hours and have a rec room with mats and blankets for you to use to sleep on the floor -- something like an upscale high school lock-in, and when you enter, you're given a towel and a hospital gown-like uniform to sleep in.

The thing is, outside the rec room, everyone's naked. Like, even the old women who scrub your skin off. This was my first real culture shock moment since being here. There are separate floors for men and women, but still... Being a film studies major, I've seen a lot of naked bodies (the French New Wave, I'm telling you...), so I'm not offended or anything, it's just kind of... strange to me? To be having conversations with naked people... in a room of a bunch of naked people? The idea of a "public bath" in general just doesn't really appeal to me. I mean, it's like skinny dipping in a pool without chlorine, right? I already feel like normal bathtub baths are kind of odd (soaking in the filth you're trying to wash off?), so the whole public bath thing, I'm not really about that life, but tons of people enjoy it. So, you know. I didn't do it, but, really, cool for them. Bathe on.

We left the jjimjilbang around 7:00am to head out for the park. The trip was advertised as an easy stroll type hike, but it was far from it. The first stretch was difficult, as it was nearly all stairs (my quads hurt just thinking about it), but when we got a peek of the view below, our stamina was revived. We focused on breathing and trekked on.

first view.

After a couple hours and hundreds more stairs, we made it to the trail that headed towards the mountain's peak.

so. many. stairs.

Hiking is mad popular in Korea. On the weekends, the subways are always packed with 40, 50, and 60-something year olds headed to the mountains with their hiking clubs.

Koreans always have their gear looking fresh.

My group reached the final stretch at the same time as a lot of the Korean groups, and I think the Koreans were pretty frustrated with our collective lack of climbing skills.

hiking group, geared up and ready to go.

Eventually, after scaling a few short rock faces with ropes and walking across bridges made of thin metal slats (what about that says "leisurely stroll?"), we made it to the top. It was such an awesome feeling -- and an even better view.

the peak, a little beyond these people.

We took some pictures on the peak and then prepared to go back down.

the greyish area in the bottom left was our final destination, a temple.

Going down was a beast, maybe even more difficult than the ascent. My knees felt bruised from all the stairs and were shaking by the time I got to the bottom. Once, we finally did get to the bottom, there was a small temple where we stopped to eat our snacks.

After that temple, we walked to the bigger temple -- our final destination -- and got ready to head home.

of course there was makgeolli being sold at the end of the trail.

I'm glad the hike was challenging; it made it more worthwhile, like we accomplished something. Seoul Hiking Group does trips every week, so I'd definitely consider joining them again.

Saw some stunning views, met some new people, and got a workout. Winning situation. Surely made up for last weekends' roughosity.

***

Today, after church, I had lunch with a couple friends. Then, we went to a cafe and ordered the best hot chocolate I've ever had in my life, but more about cafes later... It was a good weekend. I'm thankful (and am working on being more thankful even when the weeks are roughosities).

But anyway, happy trails.